A common arrangement for managing precipitation about a building is to provide an eavestrough extending along various edges of the roof of the building. A typical eavestrough includes a bottom flange, a rear wall extending upward from a rear edge of the bottom flange, and a front wall extending upward from a front edge of the bottom flange. The eavestrough collects precipitation at the edge of the roof and redirects the precipitation to a downspout which typically directs the precipitation away from the building. The downspout is typically connected to the eavestrough by communication through an outlet opening formed in the bottom flange of the eavestrough.
A common method of forming outlet openings in the bottom flange of an eavestrough is to provide a suitable punch tool having a male die driven towards a die opening in a female die to punch the outlet opening in the bottom flange received between the male and female dies. Examples of a typical eavestrough outlet punches are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,709 by Geurts, U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,890 by Dewey, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,012 by Wolters. In each instance, a male die is driven towards the die opening in a female die along a vertical punching axis. A main frame supports the male die relative to the female die offset to only one side of the punching axis such that the portions of the frame that support each of the male and female dies are effectively cantilevered relative to a main portion of the frame. Considerable force is required to drive the male die into the die opening of the female die to punch the opening in the bottom flange of the eavestrough, resulting in bending of the frame supporting the dies which can cause misalignment of the dies relative to one another resulting in a poorly formed edge about the opening. Furthermore, known punch designs are typically quite large, cumbersome and heavy, in part to counterbalance the offset cantilevered support of the dies on the frame, such that the resulting tool is difficult to support in proper alignment relative to an eavestrough by a single operator unless the die is supported on a suitable supporting surface which is undesirable in many environments.